The present invention relates to a rotary machine which--with appropriate fittings and adaptation of the basic design--may constitute a prime mover of internal combustion type, a pump or a compressor.
The basic element of the new machine comprises a circular casing in which is journalled rotatably a hollow, cylindrical body, the interior wall face of which ascribes a space delimited by recesses alternating with portions extending towards the centre of the said space, each recessed portion being diametrically opposite an inwardly extending portion, a solid cylindrical body being positioned within the said space, a throughgoing bore extending across the axis of the said solid cylindrical body in which bore a piston like member can perform a reciprocal movement.
The space within the said hollow cylindrical body will be referred to hereinafter as "working space", because in use as an internal combustion engine explosion and expansion will take place in that space and will cause the hollow cylindrical body to rotate, so that rotative movement can be derived from its shaft (by which it is journalled within the circular casing). In the same way the machine may be driven by applying a drive to the said shaft with the consequence that a fluid--be it air, or another gas--is compressed in the working space. In use as a pump the fluid to be conveyed is sucked into the working space and expelled therefrom. Those skilled in the art will understand that a basic machine as the one referred to above can serve the three purposes, once it has been adapted by conventional means to the desired purpose.
The basic element mentioned above functions in the following manner. The said recesses which are delimited in vertical direction by the wall face of the hollow cylindrical body and one end face of the piston like member plus portions of the said cylindrical body constitute chambers in which operative functions of the machine take place, be it explosion followed by expansion, be it insucking followed by compression or pumping action. These chambers contract and expand alternatingly: the piston like member is caused to perform an axial movement--to one direction or the other--whenever an end face of the piston like member passes across an inwardly extending portion of the inner wall face of the hollow cylindrical body. Since--as has been stated--each recess in the wall of the hollow body is opposite a portion extending towards the centre of the hollow body, the reciprocal movement of the piston like body becomes possible. Assuming now that, say, a combustible mixture is injected into a working space (as defined above) and is ignited by means of a plug as conventionally used in internal combustion engines, explosion will occur, the mixture being combusted, causes the hollow cylindrical body to rotate. Since there are a number of working spaces, ignition and explosion in one working space is followed by the same in a subsequent working space, the consequence being that the hollow cylindrical body rotates uniformly within the casing. Obviously this rotating movement can be employed in a conventional way.
Those skilled in the art will easily understand that in a like manner the new machine can work as a pump, or a compressor, once it has been appropriately adapted for such purpose.